Flavor the Exotic
by KCGollahon
Summary: Adila Mhina is a changeling from Africa, sent to California to plead for help from two foreign packs to save her own pack from a neighboring pack vent on destroying them, but adila becomes fatally attracted to one of her new allies... read rest inside...
1. Background info

**I have made changes! LOTS and LOTS of CHANGES! Please reread! It is important otherwise you will be lost! Just an FYI!**

***Some background information I thought you might be interested in reading, these are my ideas and characters but this story/world/other characters are based off of Nalini Singh and her psy/ changeling series which is amazing! Look it up, read it, love it! Enjoy my Fanfiction!***

Fan fiction for psy/changelings series:

Title- Flavor of the exotic

Characters-

Central characters- Theodore (Teddy) Dickens striped hyena from local pack

Adila Mhina spotted hyena

Supporting characters- Dark river leopard pack, snow dancers wolf pack

Savanna Prints Hyena Pack

Kamaria Baingana (mother of Adila- birthing mother, 35)

Nia Jabari (alpha- shaman, f, 88, adila's great aunt)

Mhina Jabari (Adila's father, defender,54)

Marjani Mhina (Adila's sister,7)

Penda Sudi (warrior, Adila's best friend,21)

Shani Thimba (knightess,26)

Ramla Shomari (knightess, 30)

Winda Pili (warrior, 20)

Zuri Issa (birthing mother, 17)

Lakeisha Haji (mother, warrior, 19)

Kesi Enzi (warrior, 21)

Jina Mhina (knightess, adila's sister, 17 )

Hasina Mhina (knightess, Jina's twin, 17)

Dalila Rashid (novice, 11)

Binty Sahil (squire, 14)

Barika Jaali (page, 12)

Bakari Kitwana (defender, father, 43)

Kito Rahidi (defender,22)

Khairi Jaali (father, 30)

Mosi Sahil (defender,15)

Shomari Hasani (defender, 29)

Sudi Chane (defender, father, 56)

Sahil Ahmed (father,32)

Ahmed Idi (father, 48)

Opposing characters (bad guys) - Glorifying Suns Lion pack

Alpha Akinlana Zaki (king)

*Harem of 15 females all warriors

Diplomat/ Adila's rival Katlego Zaki

*Four body guards Adanne Zaki

Haiba Zaki

Kafi Zaki

Miniya Zaki

Plot- Adila's alpha sends her to California in hopes of creating a land truce with the two strong packs in that area for possible land to move their deteriorating pack. Once there Adila is met by Darkriver's and snowdancer's alpha's and their future alphas off of the plane at the international airport. (she is very relieved to be on the ground again) the lions wish to stop the treaty being created and so send their own ambassador and a sabotage team to destroy all chances of the savanna prints moving to America and under the protection of darkriver and snowdancer packs. Their motive is that they know nothing but war and wish to exterminate the prints' permanently since they are the only pack directly opposing them for now. Adila falls for Darkriver's future alpha during the negotiations and vice versa. The lions attempt several murder attempts (3), a kidnapping attempt (1), treaty bypass (throughout story), a threatening letter (1), discredit (throughout story), and finally mass genocide attempt in Africa.

Savanna Prints pack hierarchy: Alpha- "shaman"

Female Fighter class by status/dominance-

Birthing mother most submissive

Page first step to knightess

Novice second step to knightess

Squire third step to knightess

Warrior fourth step to knightess

Knightess last step for female dominance other than alpha

Male statuses based on dominance-

Father less dominant

Defender most dominant

((sometimes the males can be both, esp. since the pack is short on males *comparatively*))

Profile for original characters:

Name- Adila Mhina

Age- 19 years old

Eye color- honey gold

Hair color- dusty blonde

Skin tone- chocolate

Height- 5' 1"

Country- middle Africa

Pack- Savanna Prints

Race- Changeling hyenas

Status- warrior/ ambassador/ future alpha of the Savanna Prints

Personality- a wicked sense of humor and wit, always a sharp tongue, loves humor and singing, but when time for business she demands respect and works towards diplomacy

Brief history- her great grandmother is the alpha of the pack her mother is one of the unusual non warriors of the pack- strictly a birthing mother and lifemated to Adila's father- Mhina, her grandmother is dead- killed during one of the many territory disputes between their pack and the nearby Glorifying Suns (lion) pack. The men are usually always submissive therefore the females rarely if ever mate. Her pack has been continuously attacked upon by the nearby lion changeling pack, many of her pack's members have been killed in the mindless violence, and she has taken many lives of the other pack as well.

Name- Theodore Dickens

Nickname- Teddy

Age- 27 years old

Eye color- bright toffee

Hair - glossy black, thick and silky, shaggy

Skin tone- tan biege

Height- 6' 1"

Country- USA

Pack- PineWood

Race- Changeling hyenas (striped)

Status- Beta male for PineWood pack

Personality- one of the classic nice guys that never gets the girl, teddy is adored by all but is never able to pull himself out of the "just friends" category; which is fine by him because frankly he has been to busy with his pack getting over their past and start moving forward. He puts other before himself and likes making others happy. But be assured you hurt his family, his pack, he is not the one to roll over and take it, justice will be served.

Brief history- growing up with a pretty normal childhood, his father was killed on his job in the silver mines by an accident when he was 13, his mom never remarried and raised him as a single parent but relied heavily on the pack since her job as a substitute teacher at a local elementary school was cut. She ended up waitressing at a local dive and saved enough to buy Teddy his first car when he was 17, by the time he graduated high school and went to community college he was 19, at 21 he was attending Florida state for a business degree and was away still during the whole incident in "Caressed by Ice" with his pack he at age 25 he came back home learned about what happened and that's when he started becoming so hardcore about stabilizing the pack emotionally and financially.


	2. Prologue

Prologue:

Even in the year 2083, the grassland plains of Africa are still one of the harshest, most deadly terrains left in existence. Not as impressive as it once was the savanna remains one of the largest pieces of undeveloped landscape in this highly modernized and technological world held by the Psy.

It is also the site where two powerful predatory changeling packs happened to cross paths two hundred years prior, and the blood feud that was created over the piece of territory has lasted even to this present day with no result in sight; especially with in the last decade. The Glorifying Suns Lion Pack felt that they were entitled to the largest territory in Africa because of their established power they had slowly built over the years. Financially the Suns' created a global empire of trade and shipping in the year 2045. The reign of the lions' prudence blossomed into a fortune rivaled by no other pack with in their hemisphere.

With their wealth came their power and the start of their corruption, they brought other less aggressive packs to heel by fear and domination. While other smaller and less influential predatory packs were either run out of their ancestral lands or eradicated without mercy as displays of the Suns' power. The only pack who was able to stand their ground and fight for themselves had been the Savanna Prints.

The hyena's pride and strength, found within the bond of their close knit family pack, kept the lions' attempts of complete annihilation at bay, but slowly the prints' were being picked off. The Glorifying Suns Lion Pack resented the tenacity and unbreakable will of their opponents the Savanna Prints Hyena Pack. The lion pack came up with an efficient and ingenious plan of how to slowly start creating a noose around the hyena's necks.

By buying up and pushing out the other packs' within the vicinity of the two warring predators the Suns started to silently assassinate the birth mothers and males of the hyena pack limiting their populace they then switched their priority to killing off the children. Without full frontal offensives the hyenas were at a loss of how to defend themselves against the threat, and being so cunningly cut off from any possible allies they were left to fend for themselves. Once an amazing pack with the strength of fifty female warriors and twenty seven male defenders; their numbers have now been whittled away to twenty four members in total strength by this year of 2083.

In a desperation for the survival of their children, and if god will allow the whole pack, Nia Jabari -the eldest alpha ever recorded for their pack- sends her great niece, Adila Mhina, to California to visit the strongest and most widely known packs other than the Glorifying Suns in hope that a contract can be agreed upon for protection to be extended to the Savanna Prints, or at the very least a section of unused land to be granted to them for safe refuge until they are able to better fend for themselves with in America and eventually build a truce with the packs, DarkRiver and SnowDancer.

With the consequences heavy on her nineteen year old shoulders Adila was sent off to save her pack, but the truth she was not exposed to by her fellow adult pack members was that even if she was successful in America, she had been chosen to be the last surviving member of their pack; they had all lost hope and were convinced that their fate was inevitable for the whole pack.

Death.

Mass genocide.

Extinction.


	3. Chapter One

Chapter One

Adila's stomach clenched and teetered dangerously as the large sleek airplane plummeted to the landing strip even more steeply than a few seconds before. The turbulence was minimal but her mind's imagination had taken hold of her and decided to play gruesome scenes of fire, scrapped metal, pain filled screams and disaster in repetition.

The hyena in her was savagely shredding at her control, frantic is what the creature was. She wanted to be unleashed and uncaged but Adila could not let that happen, instead she allowed her beast's claws to come out and tightly grip the arm rests of the thickly padded seats. She was unhappily puncturing holes into the fabric of the chair. Within the three minutes that all of this took place the plane skipped three times as it touched down on the tarmac and then steadily landed, quickly decelerating which threw the passengers forward against their harnesses. Shortly after, the automated voice of the captain came on over the PA system explaining safety precautions to be taken when exiting the aircraft, the weather forecast in local areas, and how this was everyone's final destination.

Adila sighed heavily as she relaxed against the seat and calmed the hyena that still paced in tempered agitation. The human warrior hummed an old lullaby that calmed the predatory animal half of herself.

Adila smoothed out her traditional dress of its twenty four hour wrinkles and tucked her shoulder blade length dusty gold hair back beneath her unadorned head scarf, then secured the scarf by tossing it over her opposite shoulder. Feeling more presentable the young woman stood and opened the large overhead compartment, nothing fell atop her even though the ride had obviously shifted many of the other luggage pieces. Searching through the more sophisticated and expensive suitcases Adila found and removed her own two homemade cotton bags filled with her belongings and offerings for her hosts and their mates.

Crossing the threshold and stepping into the shockingly cool area for the arriving passengers Adila blinked and stepped aside so others could pass by her. She was very nervous and even more lost by the number of people crowded into one building. She was starting to feel claustrophobic especially when people kept bumping and brushing past her. People without skin privileges, the hyena with in her snarled in maddening panic and Adila was having a lot of trouble keeping her under control. Quickly whipping her head around Adila spotted the neon read exit sign and as fast as she could threaded her way through the crowd to it and stopped. The blazing red sign had a longer word in front of the word 'exit'; one she could not recognize from her English lessons from home.

"Eh- merge- in- see?" she was still trying to make sense of the word, her hand resting lightly upon the door's push bar while squinting at the sign. Though her concentration was centered on translating the sign, the feeling of someone coming up behind her was not lost on her acute feral senses.

In a quick movement only traceable by another changeling Adila turned to face the other being wariness etched in every line of her body and facial expression. She steadily stared down the human man who was startled by her hasty movement. He was taller than her but that was an easy accomplishment, his hands were raised in a gesture to convey 'no harm meant', but most peculiar about him is that his state of dress was curiously similar to the assistants that had been on the airplane.

"Sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to startle you; I just noticed that you seemed a little overwhelmed . . . are you Ms. Mhina?" Adila's eyes narrowed as she then stopped inspecting him in regard and started assessing him as a possible threat. He almost immediately reacted to her infinitesimal change in intent by briskly furthering his explanation. "I'm an employee of the airline you arrived on and we were asked specifically by the DarkRiver Pack to keep an eye out for you and to help you if you needed it." Adila visibly relaxed and sighed slowly in relief.

"Thank you, I am lost with in this place." Adila answered with a small smile, the airline representative was so taken aback that as he replied he stammered slightly.

"Y- Yes well, if you want I can bring you to your awaiting escort."

"That would be very kind, I would be thankful." Her smile widened but not by much, still the middle aged man was so startled by the complete difference in her beauty. It had gone from savage alert to calm wildness; the chocolate skinned changeling was stunning.

"Please follow me." The enamored employee lead the way away from the door she had been about to leave through and towards a large gate terminal filled with people hemmed into a tightly packed horde, but he guided Adila to a side doorway that was going by unused. On the other side of the gate was a spacious lobby area for the family members, friends, or associates to gather in anticipation of their arriving passengers. The uniformed human brought Adila to a separate side room, opening the door he gestured for her to go ahead inside, and when she did step inside the door clacked shut lightly behind her. The room was furnished with several cushioned chairs and lounges, though those were not the only occupants of the room.

There were six other people within the room; four male changelings, one female changeling and one female human. Adila blinked as she silently examined them and allowed them to examine her. She knew what they would see. As very young but very powerful changeling; Adila was underweight, which went with the rough territory of her homeland, though still sturdily muscled. Her traditional head scarf covering her golden blonde hair, her usual wrapped dress colorfully printed in unique designs created by the BirthMothers own weaving. Her skin is a thick chocolate brown with darker chocolate spots that transfer from her animal form to her human skin; the marks a distinguishing signature of her changeling species the hyena. Her eyes captivating because of the topaz gold highlighted with citrus orange throughout the irises. However what would catch their attention most of all would be the four scar lines that run diagonally from her left temple to her right most angle on her jaw and one that trails even farther to her neck barely missing her major artery and vein.

Two members of the group, she first started assessing, were stretched in a lazing position upon one of the many sloping couches, the female was the human, her skin was a honeyed brown her eyes at this distance were large but the color was a peculiar black color, her thick, dark, black hair was contained in a very relaxed braid, and her answering smile exuded a warmth that adila could almost physically feel, she was leaned against the male behind her his arms wrapped protectively around her, she was clad in a pink t shirt and long shorts as she lay sprawled on the lounge, though the pose of relaxation was a deceptive front on the male's part, he was long, his height sprawled across the length of the couch, he was deeply tanned and quite muscular but in a very subtle way by the way he wore his clothing, he had shaggy black hair that obscured his feline gold eyes, his smell was that of power and dominance, but the most interesting part of him was the four jagged scars from a great cat that marred the lower jaw of one side of his face. Adila acknowledged the power he held within him and moved on in her surveillance.

Her eyes scanned over to the Three others with in the bunch that were cloistered together marginally set away from the couple and the juvenile behind them, she couldn't understand why there seemed to be a distinction between the two groups. The last female sat in one of the push chairs but was leaned forward as if preparing to move quickly if needed. She had sharp handsome features pronounced by pale creamy white skin, her hair was bound up in a high ponytail with a color that resembled so closely the blue black of a scarab beetle's shell in the moonlight, her shirt was a deep red tank top and faded blue jeans hugged her fit athletic body and, Adila assumed, allowed her optimal movement when required, but the most striking of the woman was the eyes above her light pink mouth that was smiling slightly back at her. The eyes irises were a bright, vibrant violet that sparked with interest towards adila; while the two males with her stood on either side of the chair she sat in. one leaned against the back of the lady's chair his skin was darker than the females but if he didn't spend time in the sun then adila thought he would be closer to the female's coloring, his hair was a dark brown that reminded adila of the African Bison's coat, his eyes were a hazel green from what adila could see. He wore jeans and a gray pullover t shirt the clothes accentuating his thick musculature. The other male stood with his arms crossed over his meaty pectorals and his shoulder blades angled to lean against the wall behind him. His features were sharp and emotionless, but she smelled another alpha scent coming off of him, Adila also felt an edgy undercurrent of hostility towards her. The man's white blonde hair was short giving his face an honestly violent intensity of itself, his eyes unhidden pierced through her like ice picks, not only were they razor sharp but they were and impossible airy blue, you could barely make out the color they were so light. Still confused to the miniscule spacing between the two groups, adila suddenly felt that she was in the presence of two completely different species of changelings, then her eyes widened in realization when she finally understood that she not only stood in front of Dark River's alpha but also their "brother" pack Snow Dancer's alpha.

Adila nodded to herself as her attention shifted to the last male in the room who stood unobtrusively behind the couple on the lounge, but in a soldier's relaxed stance. Adila eyed him incredulously. He looked young and though he was obviously very tall, easily over six feet, a dishwater blonde or a dusty auburn, with clear medium blue eyes, and very well toned with hard muscles, he still looked thin when compared to the other males in the room like he was still filling out. She was about to dismiss the boy as a privileged juvenile when his scent enveloped her. She breathed in deeply and blinked in astonishment when she realized he had the scent of a future alpha, just like she knew they could scent from her.

Adila smiled widely, her most viciously sweet smile, no longer hid under her uncertain façade because this was the environment she was accustomed to. An environment filled with dangerously serious changelings.

"Jambo! I am Adila Mhina, Warrior of the Savanna Prints Hyena Pack from the middle most regions of the grasslands in Africa. I hope we all will be able to work well together towards a fair treaty all of us can be happy with." The young changeling nodded in polite respect to the more experienced and important entities in the room. Three out of the six smiled outright towards her, one hid a grin, but the last two stood stoic to her charm, she imagined in reservation of opinion for her, which she expected.

The female with the warmest smile sat up from her relaxed position upon the lounging chair and stood with the dark, smooth, dangerous male quickly behind her. Adila guessed she was human, because even though the woman moved with a feline type grace, the only animal scent to her was that of the male changeling leopard behind her. Adila lowered her head and tilted to expose her neck and the vulnerable jugular slightly in honor to the two approaching her. It was an acknowledgement where she came from that she was here for friendship; or at least not there for violence. The larger male almost imperceptibly relaxed against an underhanded attack towards his fragile mate. Of course all of this happened within under half a minute, giving the honey colored woman time to approach Adila and hold out her hand still smiling herself.

"Hello to you too Adila, I am Sascha Hunter. I am Lucas Hunter's mate and mind healer of the Dark River Pack." Adila straightened her neck and cocked her head to the side in confusion not only to the woman's introduction but also her upraised hand. The male, alpha Lucas Hunter if Adila had to guess, behind the woman smiled in more amusement now as he watched to interaction between Sascha and herself.

Finally Adila admitted, "I do not understand . . . this," she waved her own hand vaguely towards Sascha's still upraised hand and then finished. "And what do you mean by a mind healer, humans have no such ability that my people are aware of, so how is that possible?" Everyone in the room chuckled or laughed outright, well all except one male but he right now was of no concern for Adila. She waited patiently for an explanation to her cultural confusions.

Sascha was the first to subdue her mirth enough to answer the young exotic changeling before her. A smile still spread across her face. "The handshake is a common greeting in America, here an example," she turned to her panther mate. "You are supposed to take mine with your opposite hand," in a casual manner Sascha held out her hand and Lucas took her hand. "Then you shake, that's why it's called a handshake." She finished and then they moved their hands up and down in well practiced movements; Adila's topaz orange eyes widened in comprehension at the simple execution of the gesture.

"I understand . . . may I try?" she tentatively held her hand forward mimicking the angle and position Sascha had when she first attempted the greeting. "Like this?" and when Sascha placed her hand with in Adila's they shook the hands, Sascha nodded her head in approval; that their handshake looked much more robotic and forced than the one between the two mates was understandable since they grew up with the action as a customary gesture. Adila's smiled turned to one of accomplishment for her first success towards this new culture she was going to need to learn quickly for the sake of her pack. "That was interesting, odd compared to our familiar welcome."

Sascha, Lucas and three others laughed at her response. "What is your usual greeting to others?"

"In pack?" Adila asked perplexed.

"Or outside of pack."

Adila frowned slightly and shifted her eyes away when she felt the quick animalistic rage take hold of her briefly, the hyena pacing precariously close to the surface. "My pack does not often have visits from outside changelings with good as their . . . aim? . . . toward us . . . anyway our pack is small; with the favor of your mate I will show you our popular salaam."

Sascha turned and looked at Lucas with a gaze that was more demand then question, Lucas ignored his mate and studied the small darkly skinned changeling in front of him. He scented the air around her and found no stink of deceit or malicious intent. Adila's avoidance of their eyes and her momentary flare of fury had put not only him but all of the other silent adult changelings on edge, but Sascha had quickly caused that to dispel into nothing thanks to her empathic psychic abilities. And the fury seemed to have diminished significantly as well, which to his amusement had their little guest blinking in outright amazement. He smiled a small intimate smile to his mate with a raised eyebrow, taking that as a signal for affirmation Sascha scooted closer to the still dazed juvenile changeling. "Yes please show me."

Adila blinked a few more times as she brought her concentration back to the reality in front of her. "Yes, well we . . . ready?"

Sascha nodded enthusiastically, adila smiled mischievously. "Alright . . . we . . . say 'Hello'!" and then she waved at the older woman. There was a pause when everyone started laughing again at the young changeling. Even Adila chuckled softly.

Sascha shook her head as her laughter died down. "Ok ok, very clever but seriously, how do you traditionally greet each other!"

"That was it, truly!" adila confessed. "Jambo is a formal way of saying hello."

"Well, that was anticlimactic!" Sascha exclaimed in mock frustration, her bright wide smile gave away her true feelings. Adila's smile stayed wickedly mischievous, it was a smile unique to her pack, and it showed off her sharp carnivorous teeth as well as spreading wider than humanly possible across her face. Sascha started back from the young girl simultaneously Lucas grabbed her around the waist and dragged her behind him, growling savagely at Adila who reacted to his hostility as any young dominant female being threatened from her pack would, her own smile went into a gruesome snarl her face contorted in fury as she snapped and growled back. Unfortunately that only put everyone else in the room on edge, ready to pounce all of them growling back at her but in warning. Confused but prideful Adila dropped her bags and backed up against the wall crouching in a defensive posture but continuing her particular high pitched cackling snarl, a warning of how if she was attacked then she would retaliate.

Then something completely unexpected happened and everyone on the other side of the room abruptly stopped growling at her and visibly relaxed from their offensive postures, Adila eyed everyone with mistrust as she kept scanning them all for any further signs of aggression. That's when she felt the burden of her own anger and readiness to fight being lifted from her shoulders, Adila's eyes wild with confusion snatched at the disappearing emotions and screamed with everything inside of her.

_**STOP!**_

The invisible hands immediately stilled and gently placed her emotion back inside of Adila who was now shoved up against the wall, flushed and breathing erratically her eyes were wide with horror and upset. Shaking her head slowly and in denial she pressed herself even farther against the wall her fear and confusion almost tangible.

"What. . ." she breathed harshly ". . . was that!" Sascha looked up in to Lucas' now calm face in apology.

"Her smile startled me, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any problems, her teeth their just do sharp and, I'm sorry. . ." then she looked at adila who still trembled against the wall. "Adila, adila dear, I-. . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean to distress you, my powers, they are automatic in extreme situations . . . are you alright?"

Adila's breathing started to regulate, her muscles unlocked, causing her to slide to the floor and she slumped there for a few seconds, breathing deeply and evenly as she regained her composure. As she started to stand two strong large hands gripped her upper arms, the suddenness of the grip caused adila to snap her head up and look wildly at the leopard helping her. The young alpha smiled reassuringly at the smaller darker changeling.

"It's alright," his voice was silky smooth "Sascha likes making people feel good, that's all." He finished we she was standing again. Adila's brow furrowed.

"I do not understand . . . how?" adila accepted her bags when the young man offered them to her after picking them back up. Sascha nodded in understanding to the young foreigner's question.

"I am a psy, a cardinal e-psy actually." Adila blinked.

"I still do not understand. . . I thought psy were . . . robots?" Sascha smiled a small smile and shook her head in response to Adila's presumption.

"No, the psy under the Silence Protocol are as emotionless as robots, but I am not one under that imposition anymore."

"Alright. . . I still do not understand if you are a psy. . . why-"

"Why am I mated to a changeling?"

"no." adila answered sharply in annoyance. Sascha blinked in surprise then remained silent for the strong willed young woman to finish. "Why is your race an important factor to having these em- empath-. . . your powers?"

Everyone in the room froze.


	4. FYI

**Updates: **

**In Exotic Flavor I have decided that the love interest for Adila is going to be and OC character simply because I feel inadequate to properly portray in depth Nalini Singh Characters.**

**So instead of Kit, Adila's love interest is a beta male from the nearby Hyena pack in the territory (California). His name is Theodore but he prefers Teddy. **** I will give you more information on him later**

**Thanks,**

**KC**


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